Stretched on Your Grave
by Juliana Wright
Summary: Draco Malfoy is a lonely man, living in his past. One day a young girl, claiming to be the cousin of his lost love, comes asking to hear the story he never told.
1. Prologue

Stretched on Your Grave  
  
Calling out to the air  
With tears both hard and wild  
Oh, I grieve for the girl that I   
Loved as a child.  
  
Prologue: Reflecting  
  
My story is not for the faint of heart, or those in love with happy endings. People look at my eyes and see a cold, hard man. A loveless man. But I once loved a girl with all my heart, and she loved me in return.  
Hermione. So many times I wake calling out her name, almost three years later. She was the kindest, most beautiful girl I ever met. She was sweet, yet somehow managed to make me feel like I was on fire. I used to watch her all the time, longing for a glance of anything.  
The other day, at Hogsmeade, I was walking down the road, and soon found myself looking right at Hogwarts. Ahead of me was a girl with long brown hair. Obviously, it wasn't her, but after 14 glasses of Tequila one loses the gift of seeing clearly.  
"Hermione?" I had whispered, choking it out, running toward the girl.   
She turned around, and I soon found that she looked nothing like Hermione. Her face was acne ridden, and her hair was straggly. Her face had a permanent frown, and she looked panicked. I'd bet she was a third year. Fear permeated her. I realised just how bad I must appear, having not showered or shaved in two days, the reek of alcohol on my breath, looking wildly for a girl who was gone forever.  
Needless to say, she ran off. By tomorrow morning I'd be a dark stranger, or a threatening Death Eater. It all depends on the range of her imagination.  
I dragged myself to my apartment, and hit my bed. On the nightstand is a picture that Ron Weasley gave to me on Graduation Day.  
"Hang on to it," he said. "She loved you more than you knew."  
It was one of that Creevey kid's photos. I was standing there in a black cloak and shirt, Hermione nestling into my neck. Every once in awhile, I'd bend my head down and kiss her. She was so beautiful, that amazing hair of hers half pulled up, wearing a red blouse and black skirt.  
Through tears, I choked out a thanks, and suddenly I spotted Harry Potter coming near. He, too, was crying.   
"She should be here," Harry said.   
I couldn't take it. I sat down and cried my eyes out. Two years after she left, I finally managed to let it all out. Weasley and Potter sat down and just patted me on the back. Ginny Weasley came over and comforted Potter, shushing into his hair.   
I was just about to remember more, when the doorbell rang. Visions of Hogwarts escaped, and all I saw was that picture.  
I opened the door, and to my shock it was a girl, sixteen years old with golden hair and deep brown eyes.  
"Hello," she said. "Are you Draco Malfoy?"  
"Yes," I stuttered. "Who are you?"  
"I'm Helene Granger. You knew Hermione Granger, right?"  
"Yes," I whispered.  
"I'm her cousin. I wanted to know about her, so, I got out her fourth year yearbook, and I've been tracking down people in her year. Harry Potter told me everything except for her fifth year. He told me to come here, that you'd know everything about that year."  
"Yes, I would."  
"Well, please tell me then."  
I told her to sit down for awhile. I showered, shaved, and changed. I didn't want the poor girl to throw up from my smell after all.   
I closed my eyes. "My story is not for the faint of heart, or those in love with happy endings. People look at my eyes and see a cold, hard man. A loveless man. But I once loved a girl with all my heart, and she loved me in return.  
"Hermione. So many times I wake calling out her name, almost three years later. She was the kindest, most beautiful girl I ever met. She was sweet, yet somehow managed to make me feel like I was on fire. I used to watch her all the time, longing for a glance of anything…" 


	2. Falling

You will fly and you will crawl   
God knows even angels fall   
No such thing as you lost it all   
God knows even angels fall  
--- Jessica Riddle  
  
Chapter One: Falling  
  
Hermione pushed the hangings back on the four poster. It was wonderful to be back. She slipped into jeans and a tank top. The beauty of Saturdays…  
The possibilities of the day stretched before her. Perhaps she would read outside, underneath a tree. Hermione pulled back the curtains.  
It was pouring rain.   
Hermione groaned. Then… she smiled. She ran out impossibly fast.   
She reached the doors to the grounds. She spun around and around, rain soaking her through and through.  
"Well, Granger, that was quite a show."  
She turned to the door. A handsome blonde boy with sharp features wearing jeans, a shirt that read "Here We are Now, Entertain Us" and a black cloak was leaning on the doorway. He was smiling, displaying a perfect row of iridescent white teeth.  
"What do you want, Malfoy?"  
Draco smiled wider. She was standing there, getting soaked further and further, not realizing her tank top was white, dark brown hair strewn everywhere, and looking positively beautiful. Not that he would admit that.  
"Nothing. I just couldn't resist watching a girl spinning in the rain in a white tank top."  
Her brown eyes widened, and her arms immediately raced to his spot of interest.  
Hermione was getting angry. The nerve of that pervert…   
His grey eyes were searching every square inch of her. Suddenly he reached out his hand.  
"Come inside before you catch something, you crazy girl," he laughed out. She came in and he slung his cloak over her shoulders.  
"Thanks," she mumbled.  
"Anytime," he said, leaving her standing alone in the entrance hall.  
***  
That afternoon, Hermione sighed and pulled out Malfoy's cloak. It needed to go home…  
It was obviously expensive, black velvet with silk lining, an intricate white gold design laden with emeralds was on the clasp. Hermione stood up, and put it in her bag, headed for the library.   
Harry caught her arm quickly before she left. "Where are you going?"  
"Library."  
He raised an eyebrow. "Hermione, I thought you read every book in that place."  
Hermione swatted at his arm. "Leggo!"  
"My Eggo!" Harry teased. Hermione stuck her tongue out at him as she left.  
She moved past Lavender and Seamus in the hallway, giggling at their snog-fest. She entered the library, and did a scan. Nobody else was in here, except Colin Creevey and his brother, Dennis.   
Hermione turned to leave, and bumped right into Draco Malfoy.  
"What-" she began, however Draco put his finger to his lips, and grabbed her hand. He took her across the hall into an empty classroom.   
"What do you want?" Hermione asked.  
Draco had his back to her. "What's it like?"  
Hermione was confused. "Huh?"  
"Dancing in the rain."  
Puzzled, Hermione sat on the desk next to where he was standing. "Well, it's like, I don't know."  
He laughed. "Then why do you do it?"  
Hermione sighed. "Because I can, I suppose. You feel so free, like when you're a kid and you swing so high you feel like you can just soar into the sky."  
Draco finally looked at her. "Sounds like a fairy-tale kiss or something."  
"I wouldn't know," Hermione shrugged.  
He looked back at the window where the rain pattered against the pane. "You've never been kissed?"  
"No."  
"Why?"  
Hermione had no idea. "Nobody wants to I suppose. I- Are we having a civilized conversation?"  
"Yes," Draco said, smiling. "And why wouldn't somebody want to kiss you?"  
Hermione laughed hollowly. "You tell me, you're an expert on my dysfunctions."  
"I'm an expert at getting your friends angry, not your 'dysfunctions.'"  
Hermione sighed.   
"And for your information, I wouldn't mind kissing you."  
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Prove it."  
Draco turned toward her, smiling. "Really?"  
"Sure."  
"Stand up then."  
Hermione stood up. "You won't kiss-"  
Draco pulled her mouth to his and silenced the words. He pushed his mouth against hers, biting her lips, she tasted like chocolate, and Hermione pushed into the kiss as well, never wanting it to stop, to have that peppermint taste mixing in her mouth forever, and oh, God, this just can't stop, her mind screaming against it, but her lips disobeying terribly, and he couldn't find any way to get away from her, and started to explore her neck as her pulse raced, and if it stopped, the world would too, Draco put her back on the table, all he wanted was-  
"Stop," she said. He did, panting. Suddenly her innocence rushed back into his mind. She wasn't Pansy Parkinson or Lavender Brown. She had no clue what sex was like, and he wasn't about to use her naïveté to his advantage.   
"Sorry," Draco said. "That wasn't fair was it?"  
"That was," she said, "fifty times better than dancing in the rain."  
Draco laughed. "Good to know."  
The rain still pattered outside.  
"Come with me," Hermione said. He grabbed her bag.   
***  
"No," Draco said. "It's one thing when girls do it, but my masculinity screams against it."  
"Come on, Draco," Hermione said. "You said you wanted to know what dancing in the rain feels like."  
Draco looked in dismay out the door. "I don't know… I think you've completely lost your Gobstones."  
Hermione stepped out the door. "Well, I'm out here."  
Draco really wanted her to come in. "You're gonna get sick! I will, too!"  
"Good," Hermione said, "At least we'll have each other for company."  
"I hate getting wet!"  
Hermione came in. "Fine."  
Then she hugged him.  
"Argh!!! I'm soaked Hermione Whateveryourmiddlenameis Granger!"  
She pulled him outside. "Now spin."  
Draco looked at her as though she was completely insane. "Not by myself."  
Hermione looped her arms around his neck, then said, "Spin me then."  
Draco raised his eyebrow again. He picked her up and for some unknown reason began to spin her. Then he tripped.  
They both fell to the ground and got splattered with mud. Draco looked over at Hermione, then started to laugh like he never had before. Giant guffaws rose all through his throat. Hermione laughed as well.  
From Gryffindor Tower Harry Potter watched as Draco picked Hermione up again, and spun her more, then kissed her. For some reason he smiled, a distant knowing building in his mind.  
***  
"It was very fast," I said. "I loved her for years, but I never quite comprehended why that day I just did what I did. We never pinpointed the 'how's' of how we came together, it just happened. I have a feeling she had known for a long time beforehand, and I also think she knew she barely had any time left, just that year. Hermione knew things. She felt them."  
"Wow. She was so cool," Helene replied. "Did you guys ever-?"  
"Have sex? Yes. But I won't get there for awhile. Hermione was a lot more mature than I was, but I had more experience than she did. She was, in all actuality, a little naïve, and I feared what sex could do to her."  
"Oh. I regret not knowing her now."  
"I regret so many things now, and I'm only eighteen."  
"Like what?"  
"Number one, in spite of what I told you, I still moved very fast with Hermione. Also…"  
"What?"  
"I regret not being able to save her when the time came."  
"When was that?"  
"I'll get there eventually." 


	3. When Hell Breaks Loose

Let me be the one you call,  
If you jump I won't let you fall,  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night.  
If you need to fall apart,  
I can mend your broken heart,  
If you need to crash,   
Then crash and burn, you're not alone.   
  
Chapter Two: When Hell Breaks Loose  
  
Hundreds of miles from Hogwarts, the Dark Lord stood before his fire. Lucius Malfoy was sitting in a chair, a scotch in his hand.  
"Lucius," Voldemort said, "You are positive that your son is lost to us?"  
"Yes. He wrote his mother praising his filthy Mudblood girlfriend, defying all I ever taught him, refusing to be a Death Eater, next he'll be best friends with Harry Potter and-"  
"We must take action. Your son is not the only one to refuse membership. It is time he, and Harry Potter, is taught a lesson. Write to all the Death Eaters. Inform them I want Hermione Granger for Christmas, and if I don't get her…"  
"What will you do?"  
"Kill their wives of course. That includes yours, Lucius."  
"Y-yes, Master."  
***  
Harry and Ron were surprised at the change in Malfoy. He was gracious and kind and God damn it, it freaked them out, even more than the time Snape sang "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred in the middle of a test.  
Hermione, however, seemed to adore him, though only God knew why. He was always there opening doors, playing with her hair, laughing, smiling, carrying her books, acting eerily… Gryffindor-like. He also bought her things a lot. Candy, flowers, expensive jewelry from Paris, cashmere shawls from Milan, the list went on. Suddenly everybody was enormously jealous of both of them, the girls because of Draco's looks and the gifts he gave, and the guys because of Hermione's looks and the way she looked in the gifts Draco gave.  
But for some reason, that wasn't a big part of their relationship. Most of it was how they would simply cuddle close in class, the way they kissed, the way he would just stare at her like she was the most beautiful and amazing thing he'd ever seen. It was a very pure relationship, and the teachers picked up quickly. Dumbledore would wink at the pair, Professor Flitwick jumped up and down practically when they came in, and Hagrid watched Draco, as though at any moment Draco would take an axe and try to murder Hermione. Hagrid never did and never would trust Malfoy, even though the Slytherin actually came down one day and apologize profusely for everything he'd ever done to Hagrid.  
All in all, the three boys started to become friends. It took two months and lots of persuading from Hermione, but they were soon like glue. Life was pretty nice.  
***  
When November came around, it began to snow.  
Draco knew this because at one o'clock in the morning on November third, someone bouncing on his bed next to him awakened him.  
"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed. "Wake up! It's snowing!"  
Draco rolled on his side. She was extremely excited, because she hadn't put on a robe over her thin, silky, long, white nightgown, that he could see right through.  
"Hermione, love, why do you do this to me?"  
"Do what?" She exclaimed. Her eyes were filled with a childish anticipation, yet seemed to teasingly flash in a strange, mischievous way.  
"Wake me up at one o'clock in the morning, scantily clad, and in my private bed chamber! Someday I'm going to forget decorum and throw you down and make love to you like- I don't know!"  
Hermione looked at Draco with those wide eyes. "Why don't you then?"  
"Decorum."  
Hermione climbed on top of Draco. "What decorum?"  
Draco was suddenly filled with apprehension. It wasn't his decision to make. God knew he wanted to just throw that girl down, but he respected her too much. Draco stuttered. "You're ready for this?"  
Hermione smiled. "Absolutely."  
"Okay," he said.  
Her hair canopied around them, sending Draco's senses into a frenzy from its cinnamon scent. He kissed her deeply, inching her white nightgown off. She shivered, not from the cold, but in anticipation. Draco put himself on top of Hermione. She fingered his chest, tracing up his shoulders, neck, and face until her hand rested on his cheek.  
"I love you," she whispered.  
Draco smiled. "I love you, too."  
"Oh, by the way," Hermione said, "It's Elisabeth."  
***  
Helene gaped at me. "She did the foreplay?"  
"She knew I wouldn't. I didn't want to hurt her. I think she knew how badly I wanted to though. I loved her like…I don't know. Our love was too mature for us. It was very adult and intense, even though it sounds gentle. There were many times we would be violent in bed, almost scarily so."  
"What happened next?"  
"Voldemort tried to take her. I won this time, but… It would give him the rage to kill her eventually."   
"Oh, please, tell!" Helene exclaimed. She truly was a girl; not the kind Hermione was, but normal, wanting to know the juicy inside details of a romance. It suddenly hit me that she probably didn't comprehend what was going on, unless…  
"Are you a witch?"  
She nodded. "Yep! I go to the Salem Academy."  
"Good. Because what I'm about to tell you will make little sense to a Muggle."  
Helene was apprehensive. "Did something bad happen?"  
I laughed a hollow, dead laugh of someone who has seen all hell break loose before his eyes. "It was Christmas Eve of that year, I had gone up to the Gryffindor Common room to give Hermione her Christmas present…"  
***  
Draco climbed up the stairs, the box in his pocket hitting against his leg. It was afternoon, which meant he'd seen her that morning. And all night for that matter. She'd left afterwards, and had missed breakfast and tea. He supposed she was reading, even though it seemed odd.  
Potter came up behind him. "Malfoy? I thought Hermione was with you."  
Draco turned around. "She's not in Gryffindor Tower?"  
Potter shook his head. "No. She hasn't been here at all."  
He gave the password (Twinkle-Toes), and Draco took the Girls' Dormitory steps three at a time. He opened Hermione's door-  
It was empty. On the bed lay a black skirt and red top, as well as her necessaries. Her nightgown was laid neatly in the laundry basket. Draco's eyes darted to the bathroom door, where water was permeating the rug. He opened the door.   
A bath was being drawn, or so it had been hours ago. The water was three inches deep, and steam was coming up, fogging the mirrors. The tub was empty, but the mirror was cracked, with blood in the cracks. A wand was sunken a few feet away, soaps spilled, and a crimson hand mark dragged across the wall. Draco's stomach dropped.   
Potter gasped, and ran over to the tub, putting out the water. He picked up the wand, and turned to Draco. His eyes connected with something over Draco's head.  
He looked at Draco in shock. Draco looked up and saw what had Potter so upset.  
The Dark Mark drawn out in crimson red.  
Draco backed out slowly, and began to search the room. He dug through Hermione's vanity. He checked the side drawers. The first had various hair things, bushes and the sort. The second had loads of chocolate, enough to give Hermione's parents a heart attack. The third was underwear, which on any other occasion Draco would have thumbed through. He looked through her things on top, jewelry boxes and photos.  
He found the key to the long drawer and unlocked it. She had four books, labeled Year One, Two, Three, Four, and Five, in various colors. There were Muggle drawing and writing utensils. A dictionary. A sketchbook. A photo album. Pressed flowers. Normal Hermione stuff. Draco growled in frustration, then spotted it. A Locator Charm. Small, in the shape of a crescent, it matched the necklace Hermione always wore. In her tidy, perfect handwriting, Hermione had written De Novo on a tiny sheet of parchment. Latin for "Anew."  
Draco smiled at Potter. "She really knows how to blow my mind, that girl."  
Potter looked up at Draco, amazed. "What?"  
Weasley entered then. He looked around at the mess.   
"Where's Hermione?"  
Draco gave a smug face. "I don't know. But, if you two grab a part of this thing, we all will."  
Potter and Weasley-  
***  
"I thought their names were Harry and Ron!" Helene interrupted.  
"Fine," I muttered.  
***  
Harry and Ron grabbed on the crescent, and Draco whispered to it. "De Novo."  
*** 


	4. Feliz Navidad

The greatest thing you'll ever know is just love and be loved in return  
  
Chapter Three: Feliz Navidad  
  
Hermione awoke in a cold cell, wearing a thin gown. Her teeth chattered. She tried to remember how she got there, but was greeted by a dull pain in her head. She brushed her hair back and felt a sharp pain and moisture. She was bleeding. Panic began to fill her mind.  
Hermione knew her name, and that she was a witch, but everything else blurred. Images of a boy with black hair with haunted green eyes flying on a broom, a red-haired tall boy barfing up slugs (Lord knows why), and a boy- man, with blonde hair and penetrating grey-blue eyes smiling from inside a building, holding out a black cloak flashed.  
No names came to mind. Hermione groaned. She fingered a crescent shaped charm on a chain. On the back it said:  
"Find," she whispered. It glowed blue and disappeared, leaving the chain bare.  
The cell door opened, and a tall blonde man entered. He vaguely reminded her of the one she remembered, but this one had black, malicious eyes.  
"Well, well," he said. "It appears there is a filthy Mudblood in my home. I really should… dispose of it."  
He came over and grabbed Hermione's arm, and dragged her out, leaving the cell door open.  
***  
The three boys jolted in a flash of blue light. They were in a bare cell. There was blood on the ground. Draco led the way to an open door.  
"I know where we are," he said.  
"Oh, hell," Ron said. "It's your house."  
"Manor," Draco corrected. They came out into an ornate hallway filled with portraits of dead Malfoys. Draco looked both ways. It was empty.   
Suddenly there was a female scream from the right.  
"Hermione!" they chorused, running in that direction.  
***  
Hermione screamed after the man said, "Crucio." Her body seemed like a thousand knives were stabbing her. He stopped, and kneeled by her.  
"Such a pretty little girl," he said, running his hand up her leg, sitting her up. "I wonder what you feel like…"  
Hermione tried to squirm away, but he had her leg in a good grip.  
"Lucius," a cold voice said from behind her, "Honestly, this is my Christmas present."  
A handsome man, maybe twenty-five, with dark brown hair and eyes, stood her up. He looked at her state and frowned. "I said I wanted her unharmed."  
He murmured a few words and suddenly the blood and dirt vanished, and the torn gown changed into a dark blue dress that curved perfectly, but was shockingly low in the front.  
He smiled a perfect row of teeth. "Why, you are positively enchanting Miss Granger."  
"Who are you?" Hermione whispered.  
"Of course," He said. "We've never met face to face. And I have… changed."  
Lucius was smiling from the corner.  
"Lucius, leave us."  
The man smiled, and began to caress her face and neck. He put his mouth near her neck. "Such a pity you'll be dead come tomorrow."  
"Who are you?"  
"Tom Riddle. Lord Voldemort."  
Hermione couldn't remember the name, but judging from the sick feeling in her stomach, it wasn't good news. Especially seeing as her mind was now blank after the man whispered, "Imperio."  
***  
Draco, Ron, and Harry were standing behind a tapestry. Lucius Malfoy had come angrily out of the room, and was pacing the hall. A house-elf ran to him holding a note, and he finally left.   
Draco beckoned them to the door which, as expected, was locked.  
***  
When Hermione came out of the spell she felt dizzy. There was a familiar feeling all over her body, rather like when she and that man she could remember a little-  
Tom Riddle or Lord Voldemort had buttoned her dress up. He was smiling. He took out a wand.  
"That was memorable, Hermione," he was touching her again, "Now say Good Night. It's Christmas Day, and I need to send you back to Hogwarts for Dumbledore to deal with. I have enough dead bodies for my collection."  
Hermione felt that panic again. She stood up to run. Voldemort pointed his wand right at her chest.  
"Feliz Navidad."  
***  
Draco pulled out his wand. "Alohomora."  
They opened the door, and heard a cold voice say, "Feliz Navidad."  
A man whispered a few words. Harry ran and tackled the man with dark brown hair, wrenching away his wand. "Ron! It's Tom Riddle!"  
Ron ran and helped Harry. Draco spotted the girl lying on the floor. She was a vision of blue, with brown curly hair spilled out.  
Tom Riddle Apparated away. Harry and Ron fell flat on their faces.  
Draco was standing over the girl. He kneeled and observed her face. She was deathly pale, her eyes closed, and a bluish tinge in her lips. Draco shook her a bit.  
"Hermione? Hermione, it's Draco. Please wake up."  
Draco panicked. He took the crescent out of his pocket. Harry and Ron grabbed on it. "De Novo."   
They were back in the girls' dormitory. Harry and Ron ran to get Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall. Draco picked Hermione up and put her in her bed. She was breathing, but it was shallow. He brushed back her hair. Her eyes fluttered open.  
She rapidly examined his face. "You."  
Draco smiled, tears of relief streaming down his face. "Hermione, you're all right, thank God. Oh, God I love you so much."  
"I love you, too. What's your name?"  
Draco looked down at Hermione. She had passed out again. He propped her head up, and noticed a sticky wet feeling. He looked at his hand, which was covered in blood.  
***  
Harry ran at break-neck speed, Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore surprisingly keeping up.  
He opened the door to the girls' dorm, where Draco Malfoy was staring in shock at his bloody hands.  
"She's dying," he whispered. "I can't stop the blood. She keeps waking up. She doesn't remember anything but my face. No names. She's been coughing it up. She's losing so much blood…"  
Professor Dumbledore sat next to Draco and put his hand on Draco's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll do what I can."  
Draco nodded. He got up and went into the fixed restroom.  
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Can you stop the bleeding, Albus?"  
"Yes, Minerva. I can do that. But I can't stop death… that almost seems inevitable."  
McGonagall gasped. She shoved Harry out of the room, right into Ron, who had gotten Madam Pomfrey. McGonagall let her in and closed the door on Harry and Ron.  
"That was nice," Ron said.  
***  
Draco opened the door, his hands clean. He sat back in his spot, and his eyes dared them all to make him leave.  
She was no longer bleeding. Madam Pomfrey was bustling around. She stopped and sighed. "It's no use, Albus. We have no stores of her blood type for the Muggle way even."  
"What type is it?" Draco asked.  
"A. Now all I can do is break out the morphine-"  
"That's my blood type," Draco said.  
Dumbledore smiled. "Well, Poppy, can we use Mr. Malfoy's blood?"  
"Yes. But there could be a violent reaction. He is from a pureblood family, she's Muggle-born. And I need a lot of his blood to-"  
"Try," Draco pleaded.   
She looked right at Draco. "Fine."  
She took out a double IV. She stuck first him, then Hermione. She started to flow the blood from Draco to Hermione.  
"Tell me if you feel dizzy. This'll take half an hour."  
Within a few minutes, Draco was dizzy. He began to think of the irony. After all the years of jabs about bloodlines, they were exchanging blood. Hermione's face was gaining color. After awhile, Madam Pomfrey took out the IV.   
"I need to lie down," Draco said. "Can I-"  
"Go ahead, Draco," Dumbledore said.  
Draco eased himself into Hermione's bed. He quickly fell asleep, holding her in his arms.  
***  
Later that night, Hermione woke up screaming. Draco was right there, and shot up.  
"What?" he asked, eyes flashing.   
Hermione looked right at him. "Draco?"  
He held her shoulders. "You remember-"  
"I remember everything," she cried. "Oh, God, everything."  
"What'd he do?"   
"He-"  
From the desperate look in Hermione's eyes, Draco knew what Voldemort did. He hugged Hermione to his chest, shushing her.  
"Don't worry," Draco said. "He's never going to touch you again, I swear to God, I won't let him touch you like that again."  
Hermione started to shake, and Draco felt he had no other choice. He said a spell and Hermione told every detail to him, the memories escaping.   
When she was done, Hermione's face went blank, then she smiled. Draco faked one.   
"You look horrid!" Hermione exclaimed. "Rough Qudditch practice?"  
"Impossible," Draco said, pulling her to his chest.  
***  
"You erased the memory?" Helene gasped.  
I was staring at the window. "I couldn't let her live with that. She never knew what happened, Harry and Ron agreed not to tell her."   
"But-"  
"I know, I know. After that she'd forget a lot of things, like where she put her toothpaste, but other than that there were no side effects."  
"You let her live like that?"  
I continued to stare out the window.  
"I had to. Believe it or not, I have this pesky thing called a conscience."  
Helene was quiet for a while. "Are you sure you did the right thing?"  
"Absolutely." 


End file.
